The British Museum uses cookies to ensure you have the best browsing experience
and to help us improve the site.
By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to
our use of cookies. (Last updated: 12 January 2017)
Find out more

A night at the British Museum: after-hours with Dan Snow at ‘Defining Beauty’

At 6.30pm on Thursday 28 May, the British Museum will present a live 30 minute broadcast from its current blockbuster exhibition, Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art, sponsored by Julius Baer. This unique broadcast will be live-streamed using the hugely popular Periscope app to share the secrets of these remarkable works of Ancient Greek art.

Viewers will be treated to an exclusive live guided tour of the exhibition by TV historian Dan Snow. The broadcast will be entitled ‘Discover the naked truth behind Greek art with Dan Snow in this exclusive live tour’ and will begin as the British Museum closes to the public. Dan will invite all those watching to join in with his journey around the exhibition, getting up close to iconic white marble statues, exquisite works in terracotta and beautiful bronzes and fascinating vases. As the tour progresses, viewers will be able to submit their questions via Twitter and the Periscope app and these will be put to exhibition curator Ian Jenkins in a one-off interactive Q & A hosted live by Dan Snow.

Periscope is the recently-launched app from Twitter which streams video direct from a smartphone or tablet to a global audience online. Released in March 2015, the app has been downloaded millions of times. Periscope enables users to stream live whatever is visible to their smartphone or tablet camera and anyone watching can leave comments or share the link to the video via their Twitter account.

Chris Michaels, Head of Digital & Publishing at the British Museum said, “As a museum of the world for the world, we are always looking to experiment with new ways to share our exhibitions with the world, both the huge audiences who do visit us, and the audiences that cannot. Mobile technology and social media offer incredible ways to do that, and Periscope is a brilliant new innovation. The immediacy and intimacy of this way of broadcasting can help bring the wonder of Greek sculpture to a new audience.”

Dan Snow, presenter of the live broadcast said, “This is an exciting opportunity to go behind the scenes at the British Museum and to share this experience with a global audience. The British Museum is placing itself at the cutting-edge of new technology by using Periscope to broadcast live to a potential reach of millions. This event comes very early in the life of Periscope as users experiment with ways to instantly stream and record unique moments. I hope everyone watching will share in my enjoyment as I explore the British Museum after-hours and show them the exhibition Defining beauty in a way that no other visitor has had the chance to view it.”

Discover the naked truth behind Greek art with Dan Snow

6.30pm, Thursday 28 May

The live link will be shared from the BM's Twitter feed (@britishmuseum #DefiningBeauty), along with a series of exclusive content.

The broadcast can be watched live within the Periscope app, and a replay version will be available on the app for 24 hours afterwards.

The broadcast can also be watched live on desktop computers but will no longer be viewable on this site once the broadcast ends.

A recording will be available to view the next day on the British Museum's Facebook page and Youtube channel, as well the British Museum’s webpage.

Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art

26 March – 5 July 2015

The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery

For over two thousand years the Greeks experimented with representing the human body. From the prehistoric simplicity of Cycladic
figurines to the realism of the Hellenistic age, Greek craftsmen gave form to thought in a rich harvest of artworks through which the human condition was explored and interpreted.

This exhibition examines Greek interest in human character as well as sexual and social identity. In
athletics, the male body was displayed as if it were a living sculpture, and victors were commemorated by actual statues. In art, not only were mortal men and women represented, but also the gods and other beings of myth and the supernatural world. They were either conceived in the image of humankind or in monstrous combinations of human and animal form.

Sponsored by Julius Baer

Additional support

In memory of Melvin R Seiden

Mrs Jayne Wrightsman, OBE

Notes to Editors:

Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art

26 March – 5 July 2015

Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery (Room 30),

British Museum

Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

Tickets on sale from 8 January 2015

Booking strongly recommended

£16.50, children under 16 free

Group rates available

Booking fees apply online and by phone

britishmuseum.org/definingbeauty

+44 (0)20 7323 8181

Opening times

Monday–Thursday 10.00–17.30

Friday 10.00–20.30

Saturday–Sunday 09.00–17.30

Last entry 80 minutes before closing time.

The beautifully illustrated exhibition catalogue Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art, edited by Ian Jenkins is available by British Museum Press. Hardback £30.

Follow updates on the exhibition via Twitter with #DefiningBeauty and follow the Museum @britishmuseum

About Julius Baer

Julius Baer is the leading Swiss private banking group, with a focus on servicing and advising sophisticated private clients and a premium brand in global wealth management. Julius Baer’s total client assets amounted to CHF 376 billion at the end of April 2015, including CHF 289 billion of assets under management. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., whose shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and are included in the Swiss Market Index (SMI).

Julius Baer employs a staff of over 5,000 and is present in over 25 countries and some 50 locations. Headquartered in Zurich, we have offices in key locations including Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Lugano, Monaco, Montevideo, Moscow, Singapore and Tokyo.

About Julius Baer’s cultural commitment

Julius Baer has been actively committed to the field of culture for generations. It has built one of the country’s largest collections of Swiss contemporary art and by establishing the Julius Baer Foundation and its focus on the arts and youth development, it has created the basis for a long-term social commitment. Today Julius Baer sponsors several cultural projects in the fields of fine arts and classical music. Through these sponsorship commitments, Julius Baer contributes to making cultural diversity accessible to a wider public.

Current sponsorships include: Lucerne Festival at the Piano; Verbier Festival; Staedel Museum in Frankfurt; the Singapore Steinway Youth Piano Competition and Steinway Regional Finals Asia Pacific as well as the British Museum exhibition Ancient lives, new discoveries, which runs until July 2015.